Oak Park Prairie House at Below 2006 Price

List Price: $749,000The Property: This charming stucco Prairie-style house, built in 1906 in what is now Oak Park’s Ridgeland Historic District, has four bedrooms, many vintage details, and a rentable coach house, the income from which could defray the new owners’ mortgage expenses.

By Dennis Rodkin

Published Feb. 11, 2010

List Price: $749,000The Property: This charming stucco Prairie-style house, built in 1906 in what is now Oak Park’s Ridgeland Historic District, has four bedrooms, many vintage details, and a rentable coach house, the income from which could defray the new owners’ mortgage expenses.

Tim and Wendy Sheridan paid $770,000 for the house in 2006. They fell for the big front porch with a beadboard ceiling, the extensive wood trim in the living and dining rooms, the modernized and expanded kitchen, and the large side and back yards. The master bedroom has a typical Prairie band of windows and a very large dressing area that would accommodate a new master bath (at present, there is one second-floor bath), and one of the children’s bedrooms extends into a rear turret (most likely once a sleeping porch) with big windows.

As you will see in the video, the house has a lovely set of formal rooms as well as lots of family space, including a finished basement and the big backyard. The Sheridans bought the property in part because of the coach house; an elderly relative lived there for a few years. She is no longer living, and the couple now wants to downsize. They are asking less for the house than they paid for it.

According to the Sheridans, Johnny Galecki— now starring in the TV series The Big Bang Theory and most famous for his longtime role as David on Roseanne—lived in the house as a child. (Galecki did live in Oak Park, but I could not confirm the address.)

Price Points: The two-bedroom coach house is currently rented for $1,250 a month, and an extra parking space brings in another $150 a month. Assuming a buyer pays $749,000 for the house and puts down 10 percent, the mortgage payment on a 30-year loan with a 5.25 percent interest rate would run about $3,726. In that case, the rental income would cover 37 percent of the monthly mortgage payment.